How Big is a Pig? [Hardcover]

Clare Beaton (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000 | Age Level: 2 and up

How big is a pig? To find out, follow a piglet as he explores the farmyard. This book aims to help children learn opposites and names of farmyard animals. Each spread has many elements to explore, allowing children to count and name shapes, places and colours.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Some frogs are jumpy; some frogs are still./But how big is a pig? Tell me if you will!" Follow the trail of animal opposites to find out just how big a pig can be. With her felt, bead, and sequin illustrations, Clare Beaton crafts an unusual and appealing picture book that teaches young readers the concept of opposites, while drawing them ever onward to the droll conclusion. The non sequitur juxtapositions of barnyard idiosyncrasies will not faze the lively, circular minds of children in the slightest; in fact, it's almost as if a child's logic was behind the concept and text from the start! Beaton's handiwork has appeared in many other cleverly tactile picture books, including One Moose, Twenty Mice. (Ages 3 to 6) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

For Beaton (Mother Goose Remembers, reviewed above), it really is a material world: she whips up bold, bright tableaux out of meticulously sewn felt (which she uses both as appliqu?s and background) and embellishes the fuzzy fabric with judicious use of beads and sequins. Here, a smiling pink piggy coaxes the audience through a rhyming series about different kinds of opposites, ending each vignette with the title question. On the first of these full-bleed spreads, the piglet romps through a meadow where two cows, one skinny and one plump, pose with ladybugs: "Some cows are thin; some cows are fat./ But how big is a pig? Can you tell me that?" On a later spread, the pig encounters bees among the flowers: "Some bees fly high; some bees fly low./ But how big is a pig? Tell me if you know!" The answer is revealed in the final spread, when the pig happily reunites with a sow whose girth spills off the pages: "This pig is my mom and she's the biggest of all!" It's a sassy, unexpected wrap-up; Beaton will have her audience's attention all sewn up. Ages 2-6. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 24 pages
• Publisher: Barefoot Books (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841480770
• ISBN-13: 978-1841480770
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,724,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adorable, colorful book, December 21, 2001

By 

S. A. Farley "sally1590" (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Big is a Pig? (Hardcover)

This is beautifully illustrated with felt, thread and beads. The pictures are simple, brightly colored and just so cute! The story is a rhyming one and easy to read, easy for the child to understand.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful - the best I've found, October 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: How Big is a Pig? (Hardcover)

This book is great to read, to look at, and to recite. Just a superb children's book - the best I've found. Our one-year-old loves it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique, imaginative board book, July 21, 2010

By 

BostonMama (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Big Is a Pig? (Board book)

This unique board book features vibrant colors and imaginative, creative scenes made from felt and beads that come to life on the page. It's simply adorable to look at, and brings you back memories early elementary school-- the felt boards with animals or holiday items on them. It's a rhyming book that actually rhymes and has a nice, easy-to-read cadence, which is more than I can say for a LOT of children's books out there that are written by people who either cannot write and/or have never read their own books aloud to children. It's a pleasure to read books that flow and rhyme to my daughter, and this one does.

I give it four stars instead of five for two reasons: First, the pictures are a bit backwards from the words on a few pages. For example, the book will read, "Some dogs are quick, some dogs are slow"-- but the pictures show the slow dog on the left, and the quick dog on the right. It would make more sense in the reverse. I have to point out the quick dog on the right hand page and then go back over the left hand page to show the slow dog when reading to my daughter. No biggie, but a minor editorial thing that someone perhaps should have thought about up front, given that it is a book to be read aloud to small children. Second, despite the beauty of these pages, this book doesn't captivate my 13 month old quite as much as some of her other farm books or other board books. It's not a "favorite." But, she does sit quietly through it, which is a big plus sign. (If my daughter gets bored, I can't give a children's book more than a 3 star rating!) This book was gifted to her and, while I wouldn't put it in the "huge hit" category, it's a solid bedtime reading book that she does like.